


Choosing Mercy

by procrastinatingbookworm



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: 2nd person POV, Domestic, Don't hold it against them, Drabbles, Fluff and Angst, Good/Fake Ending, Platonic Relationships, Saving Ennard, Spoilers, You don't know what they've been through
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-28 05:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8433694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastinatingbookworm/pseuds/procrastinatingbookworm
Summary: You just spent the last six hours defending yourself from an abomination in a clown mask, your hands are shaking, your vision is blurry, and you are more honest-to-god terrified than you have ever been in your life, but you still freeze when the thing starts to sob. Mini-fics and drabbles from the good ending and beyond.





	1. Freedom

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Mercy](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/238699) by thejonwalter. 



_Listen. Just listen._

_Is it there?_

_No, not yet._

You shift your focus.

_Listen._

Movement.

_It's in the vent._

You seal it with a quick stab of movement. Ever since you stumbled into the private room, you've been fighting against the creature in the white mask, the  _thing_ made of wires and animatronic eyes, the thing made of what was left of the animatronics.

"The Scooping Room" Baby's voice had said.

(You doubted it was Baby at all)

_Check the cameras._

_It's still there._

Listen, check, listen, repeat.

Seal, check, listen, repeat.

_Power's draining, check the camera..._

_It's still there._

5 AM.

Check, listen, seal, listen, repeat.

...

A clock chimes. Lights flicker on.

6 AM.

You made it.

You lift your hands in tired celebration, huffing out a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding.

You hear movement outside, the day crew coming to find you. You give a breathless laugh, slumping against the wall and running a shaking hand through your sweat-damp hair.

You're saved.

 

Suddenly, something crashes against the sealed door, and you hear a strangled scream from the thing you were fighting.

You flick up the camera. The creature is slamming itself against the door, screeching with wild abandon, endoskeleton parts twitching. The wires of its hands claw at the mask as it shrieks and howls.

It's given up borrowing voices, the voice box spitting out a mangled, glitching stream of sounds that slowly coalesce into words.

"y-y-yy-y-you-u dd-d-d-don't kn-o-o-ow wha-a-aat you'v-v-ve don-n-nne! yo-u-uuu've-ve-ve da-a-a-amned us!"

A shudder goes through it, and it flings back its head, howling in obvious misery.

"th-th-the-e-ey'll de-e-ee-e-estroy us! we'll-ll..."

It stops again, shivering, the crackling voice trembling with something like emotion.

"We'll ne-e-ever si-ing again-n-n... ne-ne-never da-aa-ance, nev-vv-ver tel-l-ll sto-o-ories..."

The next sound that came out of it could only be described as a wail.

"we-e-e're sc-a-a-ared... h-h-hh-help... l-llet u-u-us ou-out-tt! p-ple-e-ease!"

You just spent the last six hours defending yourself from an abomination in a clown mask, your hands are shaking, your vision is blurry, and you are more honest-to-god terrified than you have ever been in your life, but you still freeze when the thing starts to sob.

There's a shuddering, mangled sound coming out of the voice box of the amalgamated animatronic, awful and choking, each heaving, strangled wail sending a shudder through you.

You push down the camera, unseal the door, kneel in front of the trembling creature hunched before you, and hold out your hand.

Your voice sounds strange to your own ears when you speak.

"Come with me."

It looks up, masked face devoid of the emotion in its shivering limbs.

"Wh-a-aat?"

"Come with me. I can get you out of here."

Hesitantly, it takes your hand and lets you pull it back into the main room, falling silent.

You take off your jacket and sling it around the creature's shoulders, then set your hat on its head. It curls into the fabric, wires shifting beneath, forming endoskeleton limbs into something more visibly human.

When the crew unlocks to door and hands you a pink slip with YOU'RE FIRED in big black letters, you just nod at them.

"I'll be out in a sec, I have to find my jacket."

They leave without complaint, and you nod to the creature in the shadows. It slinks out to stand beside you, and you head towards home.

"So." You say, fiddling with the sticky lock on your door. "What should I call you?"

It considers this for a moment, head tilting in a very human way. "hm-m-m..."

You shove your shoulder against the door until it opens, and step inside.

"Here we are. It's not much, but it's better than an old underground storage facility."

"E-e-ennard." It decides. You smile.

"Well, Ennard, welcome home."

Behind the static mask, the tangle of wires spreads in a grin.

 


	2. Tech and Technician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You fix Ennard.
> 
> They're fixing you too, you realize.

"Hold still," You grumble, teasing aside wires and undone springlocks to reach the creature's voice box.

"O-o-ow!" Ennard complains, head snapping backward as your fingers brush across what passes for a nerve.

"Sorry..." You mutter, extricating the voice box.

Ennard falls silent as you prod the device with the tip of your lucky screwdriver, the one with the black and gold handle.

"Ya know..." You say, carefully dismantling the voice box. "I only took that job, and kept coming back, because I was bored. And even then..." 

You smile at Ennard, and his endoskeleton grin twitches in response.

"I started thinking... it wasn't so bad. I was among friends."

Ennard blinks at you. You laugh softly. "Guess I was right."

You twist one of the copper wires in the voice box, and Ennard squawks with pain.

"Sorry," You wince, leaning around the twitching animatronic to turn on the TV, swiveling so you're both facing it. Ennard's exoskeleton shifts into a smile once again.

You fix the broken voice box, Ennard's quiet squeaks of pain hidden beneath the music of the cheesy soap opera.

For some strange reason, the amalgamated animatronic relaxes you. They could kill you in a moment, and they've tried, but you trust them.

...

Ennard's new voice is soft and almost melodious, but distinctively masculine. You both like it, and Ennard thanks you in their new voice.

Behind the static mask, they laugh.

 


	3. Cabin Fever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving one prison for another is not what the animatronics gave up everything for.
> 
> Ennard remembers that.

"This isn't freedom." Ennard says one day, peering at you from behind their mask.

You set down your screwdriver. "Huh?"

"We're still trapped. Just in a kinder prison." The amalgamated animatronic's voice is a dangerous purr.

"Ennard, you know why you can't leave."

They glare at you, wirey animatronic hands curling into fists. "We want to go out."

"Do you want to be caught and dragged back underground to be torn apart and dissected?" You counter, putting your hands on your hips.

Ennard flinches, but doesn't back down. "We want to go outside."

"No."

The single eye behind the static mask glows red.

You back away, staying between them and the door. "You can't leave, Ennard."

"We want to go outside."

"No."

Ennard leaps at you, screeching, and, in a burst of panicked adrenaline, you drive your screwdriver into the left eye-hole of the mask, sparks leaping from the shattered optics as Ennard rears back with a howl, clutching their broken eye and screeching.

Your panic reverses immediately, and you jolt forward, reaching toward the amalgamated animatronic.

Ennard's knee-joints buckle, and you sink down beside them, hand ghosting over their shoulder.

Their voice box is shuddering with a keening wail that you recognize as crying, clawing at the screwdriver buried in their eye.

"Oh god, Ennard, I'm so sorry..." You babble, easing the mask off their face.

The eye is irreparable. The lens has shattered completely, the optics inside torn apart.

You crawl over to your toolbox, dragging it back to the animatronic kneeling by the door.

With a pair of tweezers and a bolt cutter, you disconnect the ruined eye. Ennards wails peter off into whimpers as you untangle the animatronic eye hanging at their hip and connect it to their endoskeleton, murmuring apologies.

You guide Ennard over to the couch and flip through the channels until you find a cheesy soap opera, but neither of you really watch it.

Behind the static mask, Ennard is crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Put prompts and drabble ideas in the comments!


	4. Escape Attempt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You honestly don't know what you expected.

Eventually, you have to go back to work. The less-than-generous paycheck from Circus Baby's Rentals only holds fore a week before you have to dip into your bank account to buy food.

With your needs, plus the mechanical parts you need to start fixing Ennard, it's inevitable that you have to start working again.

You tell Ennard the day before you start work, over breakfast.

"Why?" They ask, head tilting.

"I need the money. I'm trusting you to stay here and out of sight while I'm gone."

You could swear that Ennard pouts when you say that.

"I just want you to be safe, Ennard."

They nod slowly, and you go back to your breakfast.

...

You honestly don't know what you expected.

The house is empty when you come back, and you waste at least five minutes calling Ennard every unprintable name under the sun.

Then you turn and hurry out the door, bent like a sprinter, head whipping back and forth.

The minutes that it takes to find them feel like hours or days, and you're panting by the time you spot the white-masked face, exertion and fear stealing your breath.

A little girl is talking to them, and you stiffen in fear.

"So, what's the mask for, mister?" The girl asks, just as you arrive.

"Hey!" You shriek, grabbing the animatronic's arm. They're wearing an old trench coat and a fedora, obviously snatched from your closet.

You let go when they flinch, cowering slightly away from you. Their one eye is fearful behind the mask.

"Ennard..." You sigh, slipping your hand in the the animatronic's gloved appendage. "Let's go home."

They're silent on the walk home, and so are you.

You lock the door behind you and turn to glare at Ennard.

"I want to be free," They whine, but you cut them off.

"You could have been caught out there! We both know what they would have done!"

The masked face turns away, exoskeleton twitching into an expression you don't quite recognize.

"I'm sorry." They murmur. "I... I'm sorry."

"Just... be careful."

You sit down on the couch, and Ennard slumps beside you, resting their head on your shoulder and curling into your side.

You realize, suddenly, that the expression behind the static mask is shame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Put drabble ideas in the comments!


	5. Apology Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You see the costume in the store two weeks after Ennard's escape attempt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update!

You see the costume in the store two weeks after Ennard's escape attempt.

It's nothing special, not really. Boba Fett, the display tag says. You never really understood Star Wars, you think, hefting the some-assembly required box into your shopping cart.

Ennard is sulking on the couch when you return, folded in on themself like a child.

"Hey." You say, stepping into their line of sight. "I brought you something."

They look up, but say nothing. The small amount of speaking they did had almost completely ceased after the escape attempt.

"I guess it's an apology." You continue, setting the box on the floor. They shift to look at it, head tilting in confusion.

"It's a costume. It should fit you."

They look at you blankly, head tilted.

You smile at them. "You can go outside."

They leap up, almost overbalancing, and wrap metal arms around you, babbling thanks and apologies.

You grin at Ennard, and everything feels a little bit brighter.

Behind the static mask, you see the grateful smile shifting across their endoskeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave prompts in the comments!


End file.
